Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-11-23

OlC tnan SeaSOnaDie. In tnlS BectlO
he winter rains do not usually set il
efore the last third of the month o
November. Some years we get yer,
title precipitation before the latte,
art of December. Eastern people ar
,lways greatly puzzled at this phase o
,ur seasons. They are utterly at
loss to know how crops can be raised
in a country where no moisture
falls from the skies between
the first of May and the
end Of November. This is period
OF more than half the year. The fact
is our dry summers are the largest
element OF all in insuring the pros
perity of our farmers. We know ex-
,ctly what to expect in the way OF
weather, and can shape our industrial
course accordingly. California farm
ers never lose their hay or grain crops
by reason of untimely and useless
summer rains. Another erroneous
notion prevailing about us is that irri-
CATION is an exigency of all our farm
ing. In point of fact we irrigate none
of the crops which this section pro-
duces in common with those of the
Eastern States. Time was when too
much water was used hereabouts on
all sorts of crops which now are known
to do excellently without irrigation,
Hay, grain, leguminous plants, pota-
toes. and all sorts of deciduous fruits
in Southern California do better with
out water artifcially applied. Vine
yards in ordinary years do not re-
quire irrigation. The only products
of our soil which must be irrigated are
the citrus fruit family. In such cases
as these remarks do not apply to, it is
because we wish by artificial means
to produce more than one crop year
on the same piece of land. If grain is
sown on field, and after it is cut in
summer we wish to put
in "a crop of potatoes, the
land, must be irrigated. So also,
where a farmer has patch of alfalfa
which he cuts every month in the
year from April to November, after
each moving irrigation is necessary.
The same is true of vegetable gardens
where several successive crops are
gathered along through all the months
of the year. Then, again, in case OF
dry season there is an inexpressible
advantage in being able to turn
stream of water on your land, and by
artificial means put the elements at
defiance. These are all things in
which our irrigable districts immeas-
urably surpass any section in any Of
the Eastern States.
The simple fact is this, could our
rains be still further compressed in
regard to their period of precipitation,
it would be an advantage to our farm
ers. Rains falling inside of the dry
season outlined before, are a positive
detriment to every enterprise We have
in hand. They do none any good.
Any precipitation coming earlier than
the end of December is Of doubtful
expediency to our industries gener-
ally, and their benefit to anything is
somewhat hard to find. Heavy rains
after the first of April come in the
same category of doubtful expediency
Light showers in that month
are beneficial to most crops.
If our rains could be SO ordered
that good soaking downpour could
be relied on for the last ten days in
December, another rain of the same
liberal proportion for month later,
then heavy showers at intervals
through February and March, taper
ing off into gentle downfalls in the
following month, the dispensation
would be ideally perfect. Ii, there
fore, our present promise Of precipita-
ton should not come to great deal ,
no interest in the land will suffer. At
the same time all our crops are
housed, and should we receive heavy
downpour it will not greatly harm any
one.